1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor including dielectric layers and internal electrode layers alternately stacked and also relates to a method for manufacturing such a multilayer ceramic capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-124785 discloses a multilayer ceramic capacitor including a ceramic chip and a pair of external electrodes disposed on respective opposed faces of the ceramic chip. The ceramic chip includes dielectric layers and internal electrode layers alternately stacked. One ends of the internal electrode layers are alternately exposed from the opposed faces of the ceramic chip. The external electrodes are electrically connected to the exposed ends of the internal electrode layers.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor is manufactured through forming the green dielectric layers by a coating process and a drying process using a ceramic slurry containing dielectric particles containing BaTiO3 or the like, forming the green internal electrode layers on the respective green dielectric layers by applying a conductive paste containing metal particles containing Ni or another metal onto the green dielectric layers by a printing process, preparing the green ceramic chip by stacking the green dielectric layers having the green internal electrode layers disposed thereon and then pressing the stacked green dielectric layers, forming the green external electrodes by applying the conductive paste onto the green ceramic chip, and firing the green ceramic chip having the green external electrodes disposed thereon. When the internal electrode layers contain a base metal, the fired ceramic chip is further subjected to a heat-treating processreferred to as a reoxidizing process as required such that properties of the ceramic chip are adjusted.
In order to manufacture multilayer ceramic capacitors that need to have high capacitance and a small size, dielectric layers and internal electrode layers with a thickness on the order of micrometer are used for capacitance enhancement and the following components are used for size reduction: 0603-size components (a reference length of 0.6 mm, a reference width of 0.3 mm, and a reference height of 0.3 mm) or 0402-size components (a reference length of 0.4 mm, a reference width of 0.2 mm, and a reference height of 0.2 mm).
The multilayer ceramic capacitors are inferior in flexural strength to large-size multilayer ceramic capacitors including thick layers and large-size components. Therefore, the multilayer ceramic capacitors can be chipped or cracked when the multilayer ceramic capacitors are mounted on substrates or stresses are applied to the mounted multilayer ceramic capacitors.